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STAPLES 

Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 
States  of  the  Union* 


E 

155 

S73 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAMES 


OF  THE 


STATES  OF  THE  UNION, 


BY 


HAMILTON  B.  STAPLES. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAMES  OF  THE  STATES. 


ORIGIN  OF'  THE  NAMES 


STATES  OF  THE  UNION. 


HAMILTON  B.  STAPLES. 
HI 


A   PAPER  READ  AT  THE  REGULAR   MEETING  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
ANTIQUARIAN  SOCIETY,  OCTOBER  21ST,  1881,  AND 

PUBLISHED    IN    ITS     PROCEEDINGS. 


W  0  r  c  e  $  1 1  r ,    P  a  a  $ . : 

PRESS    OF    CHAS.    HAMILTON, 
311    MAIN    STREET. 

1882. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAMES  OF  THE  STATES  OF  THE 

UNION. 


I  HAVE  the  honor  to  lay  before  the  Society  a  series  of 
notes,  the  result  of  a  limited  research,  upon  the  origin  of 
the  names  of  the  States  of  the  Union.  I  was  led  to  suppose 
the  subject  might  prove  interesting  from  the  circumstance 
that,  some  time  ago,  it  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
Society  as  a  fit  subject  of  investigation,  but  for  some  reason 
no  definite  inquiry  has  been  prosecuted.  I  regret  that  in 
respect  to  the  origin  of  the  names  of  several  States,  my 
paper  will  simply  present  an  array  of  conflicting  authorities. 
I  have  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  the  acting- 
librarian  of  the  Society,  and  to  Mr.  Green,  the  accomplished 
librarian  of  the  Free  Public  Library  of  Worcester,  for  the 
means  to  prosecute  these  inquiries. 

In  considering  the  subject,  it  will  be  convenient  to  divide 
the  States  into  groups,  starting  with  the  original  thirteen 
States,  as  the  first  group,  and  in  respect  to  this  group,  to 
refer  to  the  States  in  the  order  of  the  coast  line  from  North 

to  South. 

i 

The  origin  of  the  name  of  New  Hampshire  is  very  simple. 
The  original  territory  conveyed  by  patent  of  the  Plymouth 
y   Company  to  John  Mason  in  1629,  was  named  by  him  after 
Hampshire  County  in  England. 


Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 

The  life  of  Massachusetts,  as  an  autonomic  State,  begins 
with  the  charter  of  1691,  which  merged  into  one  province 
the  Plymouth  and  the  Massachusetts  Bay  jurisdictions  and 
also  the  Province  of  Maine.  The  present  name  of  the  State 
is  derived  from  the  Bay  of  that  name.  In  fact,  the  word 
' '  Bay  "  was  a  part  o/  the  name  of  the  younger  colony  which 
alone  had  received  a  charter  from  the  Crown,  and  was 
retained  in  the  name  of  the  new  province,  and  afterwards  in 
the  name  of  the  State,  till  the  Constitution  of  1780  went 
into  operation.  The  Massachusetts  Bay  received  its  name 
from  the  Massachusetts  Indians  who  peopled  its  shores  at 
the  time  of  John  Smith's  visit  in  1014.  The  word  Massa- 
chusetts is  an  Anglicized  plural  of  Massachusett,  meaning 
"at  or  near  the  great  hills,"  "at  or  near  the  great  hill 
country,"  from  massa  "  great,"  wadchu  (in  composition) 
adchu — plural  wadclmash  "mountains"  or  "hills,"  an:l 
the  suffix  et  "at  or  near."  This  analysis  of  the  name  is 
that  given  by  Dr.  Trumbull  in  his  learned  treatise  on 
Indian  names. 

The  origin  of  the  name  of  Rhode  Island  is  quite  obscure. 
A  writer  in  the  Providence  Journal,  over  twenty  years  ago, 
in  regard  to  the  Aquetneck  Island  afterwards  Rhode  Island, 
from  which  the  State  derived  its  name,  says — 

"  How  and  for  what  reason  it  received  the  name  Rhode 
Island  is  a  disputed  and  obscure  question.  Some  ancient 
authors  write  the  name  Island  of  Rhodes.  *  *  *  Some 
have  believed  that  the  name  was  to  be  derived  from  the 
Dutch  Roode  Eylandt,  which  signifies  Red  Island,  and  which 

v 

the  first  Dutch  explorers  of  the  Bay  sometimes  gave  to   the 
Island.  *      Others    have    written    the  name  Rod 

Island.     Perhaps  it  could  also  be  Road  Island  (the  Island  of 


/States  of  the   Union. 

the  Roadstead  or  harbor  island ) ,  because  the  real  and  au- 
thentic origin  and  beginning  of  the  name  appears. to  be  so 
uncertain.  I  also  find  that  in  the  early  history  of  the  State, 
persons  of  the  family  name  Rhodes  are  also  mentioned. 
Could  not  one  Mr.  Rhodes  have  been  among  the  first  Eng- 
lish settlers?"  Mr.  Schoolcraft  in  his,  history  of  the  In- 
dian Tribes,  adopts  the  Dutch  origin  of  the  name.  Mr. 
Arnold  in  a  note  to  his  valuable  History  of  Rhode  Island 
says,  "  The  derivation  of  this  name  has  given  rise  to  much 
discussion ;  by  what  strange  fancy  this  Island  was  ever  sup- 
posed to  resemble  that  of  Rhodes  on  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor,  is  difficult  to  imagine,  and  it  is  equally  strange  that 
the  tradition  that  it  was  named  from  such  resembFance 
should  be  transmitted  or  be  believed  unless  indeed  because 
it  is  easier  to  adopt  a  geographical  absurdity  than  to  investi- 
gate an  historical  point."  Mr.  Arnold  then  goes  on  to  say 
that  the  celebrated  Dutch  navigator,  Adrian  Block,  who 
gave  his  name  to  Block  Island,  sailed  into  Narragansett  Bay 
"  where  he  commemorated  the  fiery  aspect  of  the  place, 
caused  by  the  red  clay  in  some  portion  of  its  shores,  by 
giving  it  the  name  of  Roode  Eylandt,  the  Red  Island,  and 
by  easy  transposition,  Rhode  Island."  In  support  of  the 
theory  that  the  State  was  named  after  the  island  in  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  we  have  the  authority  of  Peterson's  His- 
tory of  Rhode  Island.  We  have  also  the  commanding 
authority  of  the  public  act  by  which  the  name  was  given. 
From  Vol.  I.,  p.  127,  of  the  Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records 
we  make  this  extract :  "At  the  Generall  Court  of  Election 
held  at  Nuport  13.  Jan.  1644.  It  is  ordered  by  this  Court 
that  the  ysland  commonly  called  Aquethneck  shall  be  from 

henceforth  called  the  Isle  of  Rhodes  or  Rhode  Island."    The 

7 


Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 

form  of  this  vote  introducing  the  Isle  of  Khodes  first  is 
opposed  to  all  the  theories  of  the  origin  of  the  name  except 
that  which  refers  it  to  the  island  in  the  Mediterranean.  It 
is  stated  by  Mr.  Hildreth  that  the  name  as  given  to  the 
island  by  the  purchasers  was  the  Isle  of  Rhodes  and  that  it 
was  afterwards  called  Rhode  Island.  When  we  consider 
that  Sir  Henry  Vane  was  instrumental  in  the  purchase  of 
the  island  from  the  Indians,  we  are  at  no  loss  to  account  for 
a  name  which  displays  an  historical  imagination. 

The  name  Connecticut  spelled  Quin-neh-tukqut  signifies 
"  land  on  a  long  tidal  river."  The  name  is  so  spelled  in 
Cotton's  Vocabulary,  and  in  the  Cambridge  Records  it 
appears  ns  Quinetuckquet.  This  explanation  rests  upon  the 
authority  of  Dr.  Trumbull. 

The  territory  of  the  imperial  State  of  New  York  was 
comprised  in  the  royal  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York  in  1664, 
of  all  the  land  ' '  from  the  west  side  of  the  Connecticut  river 
to  the  east  side  of  the  Delaware  Bay."  In  1664,  the  Duke 
fitted  out  an  expedition  which  took  possession  of  New 
Amsterdam,  and  the  place  was  thereafter  called  New 
York,  in  honor  of  the  Duke.  The  same  name  was  applied 
to  the  State.  By  a  strange  caprice  of  history  the  greatest 
State  in  the  Union  bears  the  name  of  the  last  and  the  most 
tyrannical  of  the  Stuarts. 

The  State  of  New  Jersey,  granted  by  the  Duke  of  York 
to  Sir  George  Carteret  and  Lord  Berkeley  in  1664, 
received  its  name  in  the  grant  in  commemoration  of 
the  brave  defence  of  the  Isle  of  Jersey  by  Carteret,  its 
Governor,  against  the  Parliamentary  forces  in  the  great 
Civil  War. 


States  of  the    Union. 

Pennsylvania  owes  its  name  to  its  founder,  William 
Penn.  The  name  given  by  Penn  himself  was  Sylvania, 
but  King  Charles  II.  insisted  that  the  name  of  Penn  should 
be  prefixed.  It  is  the  only  State  in  the  Union  named  after 
its  founder. 

The  counties  of  Newcastle,  Kent  and  Sussex  "  upon 
Delaware,"  granted  by  the  Duke  of  York  to  Penn  in  1682, 
were  known  as  the  territories  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1701, 
Penn  granted  them  a  certain  autonomy.  The  State  was 
named  after  the  bay  of  that  name,  and  the  bay  after  Lord 
De-la-war  who  explored  it.  It  has  been  claimed  that  the 
bay  and  the  river  were  named  after  the  Delaware  Indians, 
who  in  1600  dwelt  upon  their  shores.  This  claim  is  un- 
founded. The  Delaware  name  for  the  river  was  Lenapeh- 
ittuk,  meaning  Lenape  river. 

Maryland  was  settled  under  a  charter  granted  in  1G32 
by  King  Charles  I.  to  Lord  Baltimore.  The  State  was 
named  after  Queen  Henrietta  Maria.  In  the  charter  the 
country  is  called  "Terra  Marice,  Anglice,  Maryland." 

The  first  step  in  the  colonization  of  America  by  England 
was  the  charter  granted  in  1584  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  Under  this  charter  Raleigh  took 
possession  of  the  country  west  of  the  Roanoke,  and  called 
it  Virginia  in  honor  of  the  Virgin  Queen.  This  is  the  only 
State  in  the  Union  whose  name  appears  in  literature, 
associated  with  the  royal  title.  Spenser  dedicated  the  Faerie 
Queene  to  "Elizabeth,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  Queene  of 
England,  France  and  Ireland  and  of  Virginia."  The  near- 
est approach  to  this  in  a  public  act  is  the  order  of  the  Eng- 
lish Privy  Council  to  the  Virginia  Colony  after  the  Revolu- 


Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 

tion  of  1688  to  proclaim  William  and  Mary  as  "  Lord   and 
Lady  of  Virginia." 

The  name  of  West  Virginia,  a  new  State  formed  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia,  needs  no  separate  considera- 
tion. 

North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina  may  be  considered 
under  one  head.  Allen  in  his  History  of  Kentucky 
ascribes  the  origin  of  the  name  Carolina  to  the  French 
settlers  of  Port  Royal,  who  named  it  after  Charles  the 
Ninth  of  France.  This  is  the  popular  impression,  but 
there  is  reason  to  question  its  accuracy.  In  the  charter  of 
Carolina  granted  to  the  Lords  Proprietors  by  Charles  II. 
in  1663,  the  name  of  Carolina  is  recognized.  More  than 
thirty  years  before  Charles  I.  had  granted  a  tract  of  terri- 
tory south  of  the  Chesapeake  to  Sir  Robert  Heath,  nam- 
ing it  Carolana  after  himself.  This  grant  became  forfeited 
by  non-user.  The  name,  however,  so  given  to  the  territory 
was  doubtless  revived  in  the  new  charter  of  1663.  It  would 
not  be  a  pleasant  reflection  that  two  States  of  the  Union 
derived  their  name  from  the  king  who  commanded  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 

The  name  of  Georgia,  after  King  George  II. ,  was  by 
the  terms  of  the  charter  conferred  upon  the  territory  grant- 
ed to  the  company  organized  by  Oglethorpe  in  1732. 

We  now  come  to  a  group  of  States  which  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution  were  outlying  districts,  belonging  to  certain 
States.  These  districts  were  Maine,  belonging  to  Massa- 
chusetts ;  Vermont,  claimed  both  by  New  York  and  by  New 
Hampshire ;  Kentucky,  belonging  to  A'irginia,  and  Ten- 


0       O 

10 


States  of  the    Union. 

nessee,  belonging  to  North  Carolina.  The  origin  of  the 
names  of  these  States  will  now  be  considered. 

Maine  owes  its  name  to  its  being  supposed  to  be  the 
main  or  chief  portion  of  the  New  England  territory.  The 
origin  of  the  name  is  disclosed  in  an  extract  from  the  grant 

~  O 

of  Charles  I.  to  Sir  Fernando  Gorges,  in  1639,  confirm- 
atory of  a  patent  given  by  the  Plymouth  Company  in  1622, 
which  grant  the  grandson  of  Gorges,  through  John  Usher, 
assigned  to  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  "  all  that  Parte, 
Purparte  and  Porcon  of  the  Mayne  Lande  of  New  England 
aforesaid,  beginning  att  the  entrance  of  Pascatway  Harbor" 
(then  follows  the  description),  "all  which  said  Part,  Pur- 
part  or  Porcon  of  the  Mayne  Lande  and  all  and  every  the 
premises  hereinbefore  named  wee  doe  for  us.  our  heires  and 
successors  create  and  incorporate  into  one  Province  or 
Countie.  And  we  doe  name,  ordeyne,  and  appoynt  that 
the  Porcon  of  the  Mayne  Lande  and  Premises  aforesaide 
shall  forever  hereafter  bee  called  and  named  The  Province 
or  Countie  of  Mayne." 

The  territory  of  Vermont  was  so  named  from  the  French 
words  verd  mont,  "Green  Mountain,"  the  "d"  being 
dropped  in  composition.  The  legal  history  of  the  name  is  a 
curious  one.  At  a  convention  of  the  people  held  at  West- 
minster January  15,  1777,  it  was  declared  that  the  district 
was  a  State  "to  be  forever  hereafter  called,  known  and  dis- 
tinguished by  the  name  of  New  Connecticut  alias  Vermont." 
The  convention  met  by  adjournment  July  2d,  17(7,  and 
havino-,  in  the  meantime,  ascertained  that  the  name  of  New 

O' 

Connecticut  had  been  already  applied  to  a  district  on  the 
banks  of  the  Susquehanna  it  was  declared  that  instead  of 

11 


Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 

New  Connecticut,  the  State  should  "  ever  be  known  by  the 
name  of  Vermont."  Hall  in  his  "Early  History  of  Ver- 
mont," appendix  No.  9,  claims  that  the  words  "  alias  Ver- 
mont" did  not  belong  in  the  name  as  adopted  in  January 
and  that  they  must  have  been  inconsiderately  added  to  the 
journal,  or  an  early  copy  of  it,  by  way  of  explanation  after 
the  name  Vermont  had  been  adopted  in  lieu  of  New  Con- 
necticut and  afterwards  in  transcribing,  erroneously  taken  as 
a  part  of  the  original."  Mr.  Hall  gives  various  reasons  in 
support  of  this  claim.  One  is  the  improbability,  not  to  say 
the  absurdity,  that  the  convention  should  have  given  two 
names  to  the  State.  But  is  there  not  a  strong  presumption 
in  favor  of  the  correctness  of  public  records,  and  against  the 
mutilation  of  the  journal?  Another  reason  adduced  by  Mr. 
Hall,  is,  that  in  the  remainder  of  the  journal  the  new  State 
is  twice  called  New  Connecticut  alone.  This  reason  seems 
to  possess  very  little  force.  Another  reason  given  is  that 
Ira  Allen,  a  member  of  the  January  convention,  in  his 
history  inserts  what  purports  to  be  the  first  named  declara- 
tion with  the  name  of  New  Connecticut  only.  This  might 
well  be  in  a  history  written  after  the  name  Vermont  was  re- 
solved on  and  giving  only  the  substance  of  the  first  name. 
In  opposition  to  Mr.  Hall's  theory  the  words  are  found  in 
Slade's  State  Papers,  page  70,  in  Williams'  History  of 
Vermont,  and  in  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  journal  of  the 
convention,  the  original  being  lost,  in  the  possession  of 
James  H.  Phelps.  Further,  all  accounts  concur  that  the 
name  of  Vermont  was  given  to  the  State  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Young,  and  we  find  a  letter  of  his  dated  11  April,  1777, 
addressed  to  "  the  inhabitants  of  Vermont,  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent State,"  which  implies  that  at  that  date  the  State 

12 


Slates  of  the   Union. 

had  already  received  its  name  of  Vermont,  although  under 
an  alias. 


In  respect  to  the  name  of  Kentucky  there  is  ample  room 
for  controversy.  Allen  in  his  History  of  Kentucky  says  it 
was  named  "  from  its  principal  river  which  is  an  Indian 
name  for  '  dark  and  bloody  ground.' "  Moulton  in  his 
History  of  New  York  says  "  Kentuckee  signifies  'river  of 
blood.'"  In  Hay  ward's  History  of  Tennessee,  General 
Clark  is  the  authority  for  the  assertion  that  in  the  Indian 
language,  Kentuke  signifies  "  River  of  blood."  Ramsey  in 
his  History  of  Tennessee  alludes  to  the  name  of  Kentucky 
as  signifying  "  the  dark  and  bloody  land."  In  Johnson's 
Cyclopaedia  the  name  is  given  as  signifying  "the  dark  and 
bloody  ground."  In  opposition  to  all  this  it  appears  from 
Johnson's  "  Account  of  the  present  state  of  the  Indian  tribes 
of  Ohio  " — Transactions  American  Antiquarian  Society,  vol. 
I.,  page  271 — that  Kentucky  is  a  Shawanoese  or  Shawnoese 
word  signifying  "at  the  head  of  a  river,"  that  the  Ken- 
tucky river  was  in  former  times  often  used  by  the  Shawanoese 
in  their  migrations  north  and  south,  and  hence  the  whole 
country  took  its  name.  This  theory  of  the  name  is  quoted 
approvingly  in  Gallatin's  Synopsis  of  Indian  tribes. — 
Transactions  American  Antiquarian  Society,  vol.  II.  Mr. 
Higginson  in  his  Young  Folks'  History  says,  the  name  first 
applied  to  the  river  means  "the  Long  River."  It  lessens 
the  weight  of  the  authorities  first  cited  that  some  of  them 
connect  the  evil  signification  of  the  word  with  land,  and 
some  with  water.  It  is  also  highly  improbable  that  a  name 
clothed  with  associations  of  terror  should  be  adopted  as  the 
civic  designation  of  a  people.  On  the  whole  it  may  be 

13 


Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 

safely  asserted  that  the  weight  of  the  evidence  is  in  favor  of 
the  more  peaceful  origin  of  the  name. 

Tennessee  formed  a  part  of  the  grant  of  the  Caro- 
linas.  Its  name  is  derived  from  its  principal  river 
though  formerly  the  name  Tennessee  did  not  apply 
to  the  main  river,  hut  to  one  of  the  small  southerly 
branches  thereof.  There  is  authority  for  saying  that 
the  name  of  the  river  was  derived  from  the  village 
of  Tanasse,  the  chief  village  of  the  Cherokee  tribe,  and  sit- 
uated on  its  bank.  Hay  ward,  in  his  "Natural  and  Abo- 
riginal History  of  Tennessee,"  attempts  to  trace  the  origin 
of  the  name  Tanasse  as  an  Indian  river  name  to  the  ancient 
river  Tanais,  and  on  this  discovery,  as  well  as  on  other 
similar  resemblances,  he  founds  the  argument  that  the 
ancient  Cherokees  migrated  from  the  western  part  of  Asia. 
Mr.  Allen  claims  that  the  name  is  derived  from  an  Indian 
name  signifying  "  a  curved  spoon,"  and  there  is  authority 
for  still  another  derivation  from  an  Indian  word  signifying 
"  a  bend  in  the  river,"  in  allusion  to  the  course  of  the 
river.  I  am  not  aware  that  in  either  case  the  Indian  word 
has  been  given,  nor  is  it  believed  that  any  such  word  exists. 

There  is  a  third  group  of  States,  comprising  Ohio,  Indi- 
ana, Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  wholly  formed  from 
the  territory  of  Xew  France,  ceded  by  France  to  England 
in  1763,  relinquished  by  England  to  the  United  States  by 
the  treaty  of  1 783  and  finally  ceded  by  Virginia,  which  had 
acquired  it  by  right  of  conquest  in  the  Revolution,  to  the 
United  States  in  1783.  The  origin  of  the  names  of  these 
States  will  now  be  considered. 

14 


Sta.tes  of  the    Union. 

Ohio  is  named  after  the  beautiful  river,  its  southern 
boundary.  From  Johnson's  Account  of  the  Indian  Tribes, 
the  word  Ohio  as  applied  to  the  river  in  the  Wyandot 
language  is  O-he-zuh,  signifying  "  something  great."  The 
name  was  called  by  the  Senecas,  dwelling  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Erie,  the  Oheo.  Mr.  Schoolcraft  observes  that  the 
termination  io  in  Ohio  implies  admiration.  On  the  old 
French  maps  the  name  is  sometimes  "  the  Ochio,"  and 
sometimes  "  the  Oyo." 

Indiana  derives  its  name  from  one  of  the  old  ante-Revo- 
lutionary land  companies  which  had  claims  in  that  region. 

The  State  of  Illinois  is  named  from  its  principal  river,  the 
Illinois.  The  river  is  named  from  the  confederacy  of  In- 
dian tribes  called  the  Illinois  Confederacy  which  had  its 
seat  in  the  central  part  of  the  State.  Gallatin  gives  the 
definition  of  the  word  Illinois,  "  real  men,"  "  superior 
men,"  from  the  Delaware  word,  Leno,  Leni,  Illin,  Illini,  as 
it  is  variously  written.  The  termination  ois  is  that  by  which 
the  French  softened  the  local  inflexion  when  they  adopted 
an  Indian  word. 

Lanman,  in  his  "  Eed  Book  of  Michigan,"  derives  the 
name  of  that  State  from  the  Indian  word  Michsaugyegan, 
signifying  Lake  Country.  Johnson's  Cyclopsedia  derives 
the  name  from  the  Indian  words  Mitchi,  Saugyegan,  mean- 
ing Lake  Country.  I  regard  this  as  a  questionable  deriva- 
tion. There  are  good  reasons  for  supposing  that  the  State 
derived  its  name  from  Lake  Michigan,  and  not  from  its  being 
nearly  enclosed  by  lakes.  If  the  word  Michigan  signifies 
Lake  Country,  why  should  it  have  been  applied  to  the  Lake 
at  all  ?  In  support  of  the  theory  that  the  name  Michigan 

15 


Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 

was  descriptive,  signifying  "  great  lake,"  and  was  first  given 
to  the  lake,  I  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  on  the  earliest 
maps  the  lake  bears  the  name,  while  the  peninsula,  both 
upper  and  lower,  has  no  name  whatever. 

Besides,  the  name  as  applied  to  the  lake,  has  a  simple 
Indian  derivation.  The  Algonquin  races,  at  the  head  of 
which  was  the  Chippewa  tribe,  dwelt  on  the  northwestern 
shores  of  the  lake.  In  the  old  Algonquin  language  the 
syllable  "gaii"  meant  lake.  In  the  Chippewa  language, 
"mitcha"  meant  great.  In  this  connection  let  me  quote  a 
passage  from  an  article  in  the  North  American  Review,  vol. 
XXII.,  on  Indian  Language.  "  This  "word  Meesee  or  Mee- 
chee  (which  has  been  before  explained  to  mean  great),  for 
it  is  differently  pronounced  in  different  places,  is  found  in 
Michigan,  Missouri,  and  in  many  other  names/' 

Wisconsin  was  named  after  its  principal  river.  Until 
quite  a  recent  period  the  river  was  called  the  Ouisconsin, 
which  is  said  to  mean  "  westward  flowing."  Ouis  is  evi- 
dently shortened  from  the  French  "  ouest."  Mr.  School- 
craft  says,  that  "locality  was  given  in  the  Algonquin  by 
*  ing,'  meaning  at,  in,  or  by,  —  as  Wiscons-ing."  The  name 
is  probably  of  mixed  origin. 

There  is  a  group  of  States  formed  entirely  out  of  the 
territory  ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States  in  1803. 
These  are  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Missouri  and  Iowa. 

The  name  of  Louisiana,  now  confined  to  a  State  of  the 
Union,  was  originally  given  to  the  entire  French  possessions 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  by  La  Salle,  in  1682, 
in  honor  of  Louis  XIV. 

16 


States  of  the    Union. 

The  State  of  Arkansas  takes  its  name  from  its  principal 
river ;  the  river  from  the  tribe  of  Indians  formerly  living 
near  its  mouth.  Till  quite  a  recent  period  the  river  was 
called  the  Akansas,  and  the  tribe  the  Akansas  tribe. 

Mr.  Schoolcraft  says  that  both  the  names  Arkansas  and 
Missouri  embrace  aboriginal  roots,  but  we  hear  the  sounds 
as  modified  by  French  orthoepy  and  enunciation.  The  same 
author  farther  relates  that  there  is  a  species  of  acacia  found 
in  Arkansas,  from  which  the  Indians,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
French,  made  for  themselves  bows.  It  is  light  yellow, 
solid  and  flexible.  "This  is  thought  to  have  led  to  the 
appellation  of  Arc  or  Bow  Indians."  As  they  belonged  to  the 
Kansa  race,  and  had  lately  separated  from  them,  that  term 
would  naturally  be  adopted  by  the  French  as  the  generic 
name. 

In  the  Contributors'  Club  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly, 
May,  1881,  in  reference  to  the  name  Arkansas,  occurs  this 
curious  passage,  ' '  Does  not  the  name  come  from  the  arc- 
en-sang  of  the  early  French  traders,  its  likeness  to  Kansas 
being  accidental?  Whether  the  bloody  bow  was  a  special 
weapon  like  the  medicine  bow  that  gave  its  name  to  a  creek, 
mountain  range,  and  railway  station,  in  Wyoming,  or  the 
bloody  bows  were  a  band  like  the  Sans  Arcs,  cannot  now  be 
determined." 

The  State  of  Missouri  was  named  from  the  river  of  that 
name,  and  the  river  itself  from  the  Missouri s,  a  tribe  once 
living  near  its  mouth,  and  afterwards  driven  into  the  interior. 
There  is  another  theory  in  respect  to  the  name  of  the  river 
that  it  is  descriptive.  Col.  Higginson  in  his  Young  Folks' 
n  17 


Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 

History,  says,  Missouri  means  "  muddy  water."  The  Da- 
cotahs  called  the  Missouri  Minneshoshay,  "muddy  water," 
a  word  which  might  easily  become  Missouri.  In  an  article 
on  Indian  Migrations,  by  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  in  the  North 
American  Review,  vol.  CX.,  it  is  stated  as  a  matter  of 
tradition  that  the  Kansas  Indians  were  formerly  established 
on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  above  the  Missouri,  and 
that  they  called  the  Missouri  Xe-sho-ja  "  the  muddy  river," 
a  name  in  which  the  present  name  can  be  traced. 

The  State  of  Iowa  is  named  from  the  river  of  that  name, 
and  the  river  from  the  loway  Indians,  who  after  many  mi- 
grations settled  on  its  banks.  In  the  same  article  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  it  is  in- 
timated that  the  name  loway  is  contracted  from  Ah-hee-oo- 
ba,  meaning  "  sleepers,"  which  perhaps  explains  why  the 
Sioux  nearly  extiqDated  them. 

The  State  of  Texas  formerly  Spanish  territory,  then 
Mexican,  and  later  an  independent  State  is  the  only  State 
acquired  by  annexation.  There  is  a  conflict  of  opinion  as 
to  the  origin  of  its  name.  Johnson's  Cyclopaedia,  article 
Texas,  states  that  "  it  is  now  proved  conclusively  to  be  of 
Indian  derivation,  the  generic  title  of  numerous  tribes 
known  to  La  Salle  on  his  visit  in  1685."  On  Scale's  map, 
1750,  the  centre  of  the  territory  is  occupied  by  Indians 
called  the  Tecas  which  may  be  the  generic  title  referred  to. 
But  Mr.  Bryant  in  his  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  II., 
page  518,  note,  says  "  It  is  supposed  that  the  name  Texas 
is  from  the  Spanish  Tejas  in  allusion  to  the  covered  houses" 
found  by  La  Salle  on  his  visit  in  1<>85.  In  Morphis'  His- 
tory of  Texas,  the  name  is  given  as  of  doubtful  origin.  He 


States  of  the    Union. 

states  in  substance  that  some  refer  the  name  to  the  capital 
village  of  the  Nassonite  tribe,  others  refer  it  to  the  Spanish 
word  "tejer"  to  weave,  in  reference  to  placing  the  grass 
over  the  cottages,  others  derive  it  from  "tejas"  meaning 
"cobwebs,"  the  account  being  that  the  Spaniards  encamped 
in  an  expedition  into  the  country,  and  one  morning  the 
commander  seeing  many  spider  webs  between  himself  and 
the  rising  sun  exclaimed  "  Mini  las  tejas  !"  and  named  the 
land  Texas.  It  will  be  observed  that  this  author  in  respect 
to  one  explanation  of  the  name,  lends  support  to  Mr.  Bry- 
ant's supposition.  The  cobweb  theory  may  well  be  dis- 
missed as  legendary. 

There  are  two  States  of  the  Union  formed  of  territory 
ceded  to  the  United  States  by  Spain  in  1819.  By  this 
treaty  the  United  States  ceded  to  Spain  the*  part  of  what 
is  now  Kansas,  lying  south  of  the  Arkansas  river  and 
west  of  the  one  hundredth  degree  of  west  longitude,  also 
the  part  of  what  is  now  Colorado,  lying  south  of 
the  same  river  and  west  of  a  line  drawn  from  its 
source  due  north  to  the  forty-second  degree  of 
north  latitude,  also  the  territory  lying  south  of  the 
said  parallel  of  latitude  as  extended  from  the  end  of 
the  said  north  line  west  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the 
United  States  acquired  Florida  and  all  the  Spanish  terri- 
tory north  and  east  of  the  above  described  lines.  Thus 
the  United  States  acquired  the  Spanish  title  to  Oregon 
founded  on  its  discovery  by  that  power  about  thirty-five 
years  before  Sir  Francis  Drake  sailed  up  the  Pacific  Coast. 

The  origin  of  the  name  of  Florida  is  a  matter  of  gen- 
eral agreement  among  historians.  The  story  of  Ponce 
de  Leon  sailing  to  the  West  in  1512  in  search  of  the 


o 

19 


Origin  of  the  Barnes  of  the 

fountain  of  youth,  seeing  land  on  Pascua  Florida  or 
"Flowery  Easter"  and  on  account  of  its  profusion  of 
flowers  naming  it  Florida  is  familiar  to  all. 

The  name  of  Oregon  was  at  first  applied  to  the  Columbia 
river,  then  to  the  territory  and  lastly  to  the  State.  The 
origin  of  the  name  is  conjectural.  The  earliest  printed 
mention  of  it  is  in  Carver's  travels  •  in  1763.  Carver  ex- 
plored the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  states 
that  by  his  residence  among  the  Indians,  especially  the 
Sioux,  he  obtained  a  general  knowledge  of  the  situation 
of  the  river  Oregon  or  "the  river  of  the  West  that  falls 
into  the  Pacific  Ocean  at  the  Straits  of  Anian."  By  that 
which  he  calls  the  Oregon  the  sources  of  which  he  placed 
not  far  from  the  head  waters  of  the  Missouri,  he  may 
have  referred  to  some  one  of  the  sources  of  the  Missouri 
or  to  one  of  the  two  rivers  which,  rising  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  formed  the  principal  eastern  tributaries  of  the 
Oregon.  Carver  was  misled  as  to  the  locality  of  the  river 
of  the  West  and  the  supposed  sources  of  it  he  may  have 
confounded  with  the  sources  of  the  Missouri  or  of  one  of  the 
tributaries  in  question.  But  this  much  the  publication  of. 
his  travels  accomplished,  the  establishment  of  a  belief  in  the 
existence  of  a  great  river  emptying  into  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
He  designated  by  the  name  Oregon  a  great  river  flowing 
into  the  Pacific  and  when  in  after  times  such  a  river  was 
discovered  the  name  was  ready  at  hand. 

To  illustrate  the  obscurity  of  our  knowledge  on  this  point 
we  quote  a  passage  from  an  article  in  the  North  American 
Review,  vol.  XL VIII. ,  on  "Nautical  discovery  in  the 
Northwest."  The  writer  says  : 

"We  wish  that  Mr.    Worcester,    or   Mr.    Bradford   or 

20 


States  of  the    Union. 

some  scholar  in  the  Western  States,  distinguished  like 
those  gentlemen  for  geographical  science,  would  explain 
the  origin  of  this  word  Oregon,  which  so  far  as  we  know 
is  not  satisfactorily  settled.  Mr.  Darby  in  his  Gazetteer 
traces  the  name  to  the  Spanish  Oregan  for  the  '  sweet 
marjoram'  growing  on  the  banks  of  the  river.  But  to 
this  is  a  serious  objection  that  the  name  Oregon  does  not 
seem  so  far  as  we  remember  to  have  been  in  use  among 
the  Spaniards.  And  as  there  are  and  have  been  no 
settlers  of  that  nation  upon  the  river,  how  should  their 
word  for  wild  marjoram  come  to  designate  the  river? 
Humboldt  speaks  of  '  le  mot  indien  Oregan.'  Of  what 
Indian  is  it  the  word?  Not  of  those  living  on  the 
Columbia.  Humboldt  also  talks  of  the  Oregan  de  Mac- 
Kenzie,  but  MacKenzie  did  not  introduce  the  word.  We 
find  it  in  Carver's  travels,  1763,  and  that  is  the  oldest 
authority  for  it  which  has  met  our  eye." 

Perhaps  it  is  vain  in  the  languages  of  the  Indians  of  the 
Upper  Mississippi  to  search  for  the  source  of  this  name. 
Like  other  Indian  names,  it  is  doubtless  descriptive  of  a 
river  of  which  those  Indians  had  received  distant  and  per- 
haps fabulous  accounts. 

There  are  two  States  of  the  Union,  California  and  Nevada, 
formed  wholly  of  territory  originally  Spanish  and  acquired 
from  Mexico  by  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo.  The  name 
of  California  appears  to  have  been  taken  from  a  Spanish 
romance,  Las  Sergus  de  Esplandian,  in  which  is  described 
"  the  great  island  of  California  where  a  great  abundance 
of  gold  and  precious  stones  is  found."  This  worthless 
romance  was  published  in  1510,  and  generally  read. 
Probably  the  name  of  California  engaged  the  fancy  of  some 
of  the  officers  of  Cortes,  and  was  given  by  them  to  the 

21 


Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 

country  discovered  by  him  in  1535.  It  is  strange  that  the 
name  accidentally  given  should  have  proved  so  exactly 
descriptive.  The  origin  of  the  name  is  the  subject  of  a  very 
attractive  paper  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hale  in  vol.  IV.,  Transactions 
of  this  Society. 

The  State  of  Nevada  takes  its  name  from  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada Mountains,  which  line  its  western  frontier,  the  moun- 
tains in  their  turn  being  named  from  the  Sierra  Nevadas  of 
Granada  which  they  are  said  to  resemble  in  the  serrated 
line  of  their  summits. 

There  remains  a  group  of  States  of  a  composite  origin. 
Minnesota,  formed  in  part  from  the  northwest  territory, 
ceded  by  Virginia,  and  in  part  from  the  Louisiana  cession  ; 
Nebraska,  acquired  in  part  by  the  French  cession  of  1803, 
and  in  part  by  the  Spanish  treaty  of  1819,  confirmed  by 
the  Mexican  treaty  of  1848;  Kansas,  ceded  in  part  by 
France,  in  part  by  Spain  and  in  part  by  Texas ;  Colorado, 
ceded  in  part  by  Spain,  in  part  by  Mexico  and  in  part  by 
Texas  ;  Alabama,  ceded  to  the  United  States  by  South  Caro- 
lina, by  Georgia  and  by  Spain,  and  Mississippi,  ceded  to 
the  United  States  by  Georgia  except  a  small  southern  por- 
tion successively  occupied  by  France,  Spain  and  Great 
Britain  and  at  last  taken  possession  of  by  the  United  States. 
The  origin  of  the  names  of  these  States  claims  a  brief 
notice. 

Minnesota  is  named  from  the  Minnesota  or  St.  Peter's  river, 
the  principal  tributary  to  the  Mississippi  within  its  limits. 
The  Indian  word  is  Mini-sotah,  signyifying  "slightly  turbid 
water,"  or  as  the  Minnesota  historian  more  fancifully  puts  it, 
"  sky-tinted  water." 

22 


States  of  the   Union. 

Nebraska  is  named  from  the  Nebraska  river.  A  writer  in 
the  North  American  Review,  vol.  LXXXVIL,  on  "the 
Missouri  Valley  "  says  the  word  is  Indian  and  is  compound- 
ed of  nee,  "  river,"  and  braska,  "shallow."  Morgan  in  his 
article  on  Indian  Migrations,  North  American  Review,  vol. 
CIX.,  says  "  the  name  of  the  Platte  river  in  the  Kaw  dialect 
is  Ne-blas-ka,  signifying  '  over-spreading  flats  with  shal- 
low water.'"  Dr.  Hale  says  the  name  undoubtedly  refers 
to  the  flatness  of  the  country. 

The  State  of  Kansas  is  named  from  its  principal  river. 
The  latter  is  named  from  the  tribe  of  Indians,  called  the 
Konzas,  who  lived  upon  its  shores.  Mr.  Schoolcraft  uses 
the  name  Kasas  to  designate  the  tribe.  De  Soto  marched 
southerly  from  the  northern  limit  of  his  expedition  in  search 
of  a  rich  province,  called  Cayas.  This  points  to  the  original 
name  of  the  tribe,  the  Kaws.  The  present  name  has  there- 
fore an  Indian  root  varied  by  French  orthoepy. 

Colorado  is  named  after  the  great  Rio  Colorado  which 
rises  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  falls  into  the  Gulf  of 
California.  The  name  signifies  in  Spanish  "ruddy," 
"  blood  red,"  in  a  secondary  sense  "  colored,"  in  allusion 
to  the  color  of  its  waters.  The  river  is  not  within  the 
limits  of  the  State,  and  only  belongs  to  it  by  some  of  its 
tributaries. 

The  State  of  Mississippi  is  named  after  the  great  river. 
Mr.  Atwater,  a  member  of  this  Society,  gives  the  Indian 
name  of  the  river  Meesyseepee,  "  the  great  water."  That 
the  Indian  word  signifies  the  "  father  of  waters"  is  clearly 
erroneous.  According  to  Mr.  Gallatin's  synopsis  of  Indian 

tribes,        "Missi"    never  means    "father,"    but    "all" — 

23 


Origin  of  the  Names  of  the 

"whole."  The  word  "sipi"  means  in  the  Chippewa 
"  river."  Thus  the  words  united  mean  "  the  whole  river," 
because  many  streams  unite  to  form  it. 

In  considering  the  name  of  Alabama  we  go  back  to  the 
expedition  of  De  Soto  in  1541.  His  last  battle  was  at 
Alibamo  on  the  Yazoo  river.  This  was  the  famous  fortress 
of  the  brave  tribe  sometimes  called  the  Alibamons,  and 
sometimes  the  Alabamas.  Le  Clerc  who  resided  in  the 
Creek  nation  twenty  years  and  wrote  a  history  published  in 
Paris  in  1802,  says  that  the  Alabamos  came  to  the  Yazoo 
from  the  north  part  of  Mexico,  and  that  after  the  battle  with 
De  Soto  they  removed  to  the  river  which  now  bears  their 
name,  that  they  are  the  same  people  as  the  Alibamos  who 
fought  De  Soto.  Pickett  in  his  History  of  Alabama  states 
that  "from  these  people,  the  river,  and  state  took  their 
names."  Allen's  History  of  Kentucky  says  Alabama  is 
an  Indian  name  signifying  "here  we  rest."  Mr.  School- 
craft  says  cautiously  that  the  name  has  been  interpreted 
"here  we  rest."  We  have  not  been  able  to  discover 
anything  very  restful  in  the  history  of  the  Alabamos, 
which  is  one  of  migrations.  Mr.  Meeks,  a  good  author- 
ity in  that  State,  thinks  that  the  word  Alaba  is  only  the 
name  Hillaba  the  Ullibahallee  of  De  Soto,  a  theory  at 
variance  with  that  of  Le  Clerc  and  referring  the  origin 
of  the  name  to  a  different  tribe. 

In  Mr.  Pinkerton's  Geography  in  1804  occurs  this 
striking  passage:  "The  great  country  of  Louisiana,  now 
ceded  to  the  United  States,  will  doubtless  at  no  very 
distant  period,  be  divided  into  several  distinct  States,  and 
in  giving  names  to  these  the  Americans  will  have  an 

24 


States  of  the   Union. 

opportunity  of  manifesting  their  veneration  for,  and  their 
gratitude  to,  some  of  the  illustrious  men  who  first  dis- 
covered the  countries  of  the  new  world,  or  have  con- 
tributed to  its  freedom  and  happiness."  It  is  not  pleasant 
to  reflect  that  so  far  this  opportunity  has  been  lost  and 
this  hope  disappointed.  There  is  no  State  of  the  Union 
which  bears  the  name  of  Cabot,  or  of  Coronado,  or  of 
De  Soto,  or  of  La  Salle.  And  there  is  Father  Marquette 
whose  form  rises  before  us,  dazzling  and  immortal  as  we 
open  the  pages  of  our  early  history.  We  recall  the  poetic 
rendering  of  his  last  words,  which  sum  up  his  glorious  life, 
as  he  expires  in  a  lonely  hovel  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan  : 

"  As  God  shall  will,  what  matters  where 

A  true  man's  cross  shall  stand 
So  heaven  be  o'er  it,  here  as  there 
In  pleasant  Norman  land. 

'  Urbs  Sion  mystica '  I  see 

Its  mansions  passing  fair 
Condita  coelo,  let  me  be 

Dear  Lord  a  dweller  there." 

Was  there  no  State  to  feel  itself  honored,  to  be  called 
after  his  name  ?  But  the  wrong  may  yet  be  righted.  In  the 
naming  of  the  new  States  which  yet  remain  to  be  formed 
from  our  Western  domain,  the  last  opportunity  will  be 
given  to  do  justice  to  these  great  discoverers,  and  it  would 
be  a  graceful  and  appropriate  office  of  this  Society,  as  cases 
arise,  to  exert  its  influence  by  correspondence  with  the 
local  authorities,  and  by  memorial  to  Congress  in  favor  of 
rendering  to  them  even  at  this  late  day  this  exalted  tribute. 


25 


5^ 


Series  9482 


Cy  ay  lord •. 

SPEEDY  BINDER 

==   Syrocuse,  N.  Y.  '. 
E    Stockton.  Colif. 


3  1205026528032 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY jl  AGILITY 


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